


ultimately, i don't understand a thing (i try to do the best i can)

by far2late



Series: ultimately [1]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Angel of Death Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Evil Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Human Experimentation, Human Trafficking, Hurt Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Hybrid Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Immortal Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Injury, Kidnapping, Light Sadism, Lonely Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Manipulative Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Mentioned GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Mentioned Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Mind Manipulation, Non-Human Humanoid Society, Pig Hybrid Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Protective Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Protective Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo Angst (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Respawn Mechanics, Sad Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Sad with a Happy Ending, Swords, Trauma, Unsympathetic Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), hybrid politics, lol, mentioned badboyhalo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:01:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29953806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/far2late/pseuds/far2late
Summary: "It was honestly a miracle that Dream had managed to worm his way into getting a meeting with Techno in person in the first place. Apparently, he had found some sort of solution for the shortage of Ender pearls that the Antarctic Empire apparently had. It wasn’t really a problem at all for them, but the words certainly had sent a bit of curiosity into Techno that wouldn’t be assuaged until he went and saw this solution for himself.That and it was Dream who had invited him to his lands rather than kicking him out. It was not secret that Dream was incredibly protective over what he had, as well as refusing to let people in and out at will. Their immigration policies were probably the strictest of the kingdoms that inhabited the lands, despite how large his span of control was over his bit of forest and enchanted islands.Nonetheless, Techno wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to venture inside his borders when he was given the chance to do it non-violently."ortechno and phil find a hybrid in less-than-ideal circumstances and rescue him.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & Technoblade, Ranboo & Technoblade & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Technoblade & Phil
Series: ultimately [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2203032
Comments: 32
Kudos: 836
Collections: Completed stories I've read





	ultimately, i don't understand a thing (i try to do the best i can)

Techno’s footsteps echoed throughout the long hall he walked down, ignoring the guards that lined the walls in favour of making his way to the large doors held open by what looked like the palace help. Phil followed closely behind him, wings spread out and held up above the floor. It was a bit funny, as though their neighbour’s lands were too filthy for him to consider dragging his wings across the way he did when he was at home in his own Empiric palace. Techno would bet that they had better cleaning services, anyway. 

It was honestly a miracle that Dream had managed to worm his way into getting a meeting with Techno in person in the first place. Apparently, he had found some sort of solution for the shortage of Ender pearls that the Antarctic Empire apparently had. It wasn’t really a problem at all for them, but the words certainly had sent a bit of curiosity into Techno that wouldn’t be assuaged until he went and saw this solution for himself. 

That and it was _Dream_ who had invited him to his lands rather than kicking him out. It was not secret that Dream was incredibly protective over what he had, as well as refusing to let people in and out at will. Their immigration policies were probably the strictest of the kingdoms that inhabited the lands, despite how large his span of control was over his bit of forest and enchanted islands. 

Nonetheless, Techno wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to venture inside his borders when he was given the chance to do it non-violently. It was like throwing a party gift away before realizing that it was something delicate and nice that he had wanted for a very long time. It might have been easier to simply wage war on the kingdom to get on the inside, but Techno didn’t want to waste resources. 

  
Besides, last he had heard, the group had been amid their own little civil war already. He didn’t get confirmation on it, but when he had been taken through the lands with a humble escort of two of the king’s strongest soldiers, he could infer that from the rubbled towns that there had definitely been some sort of error. Techno wasn’t particularly bothered by this, he was sure that Dream could handle it. That and the man only existed to be his sparring buddy on the off-days that the two of them would be free. 

It had been a while since their last meeting. Nearly two years, and just by surveying the lands he had an iron grip on, Techno could tell something was wrong. Phil had seemed to have gotten that same idea as well, though he didn’t say much to Techno about it besides giving him a look indicative of what Techno already knew. Something was off here, and they were better off finding out now than later. 

Dream was standing up, out of the throne behind him when Techno and Phil silently entered the room. It was quite a large throne room, holding space for chairs and people should they decide to gather there. In the middle of the room, there was a large cloth covering a box, and Techno could faintly hear the tell-tale signs of an Enderman’s call for the Void beneath it. Something about it was a bit off, though. Everything about this was off. 

“Great to see you again, Technoblade, Philza. How’s it been in the Antarctic?” Dream greeted them pleasantly, the doors behind them closing. Techno faintly registered that there were no guards around the room, taking into account just how naive Dream was. Or how much he valued his own strength in the case that Phil and Techno turn on him. 

“‘S been alright,” Techno answered, shrugging a bit. Phil nodded next to him, shaking out his feathers as they ruffled against the navy blue cape he wore that dragged across the floor. 

“Been a good year for us. Save for the Ender pearl problem, ‘course,” Phil added, straightening up as he fixed his hat on his head properly. Dream seemed to perk up at the mention of the Ender pearls, striding forward to stand by his box in the process. 

“Yes, yes, I heard about this problem you guys were having! How bad is it?” Dream looked between the two of them, though his voice was controlled and slipping into the silky tone of a businessman looking for a deal. Phil looked to Techno, who nodded at the hybrid as an indication to speak. 

“A bit of a problem,” Techno lied, fixing his cape as he spoke. “Endermen have been scarce since we opened up the End portal. Seemed to have fled after we killed the Dragon, and the End cities we examined are abandoned. No point in leaving them open when we’ve already looted most of them. There are some in the mainlands, but the larger groups are farther up into the mountains where it’s colder and I can’t spare that many troops to go searching for Ender pearls, either.” 

Dream nodded slowly at the spiel of information, a hand drumming on the hilt of his sword absently as he looked back to the large, cloth-covered box. “I see, I see. I might have a bit of a solution for that, believe it or not.” 

Phil raised his eyebrows, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he looked down on Dream. 

“A solution for something like that?” He asked, skeptical. Dream nodded, a smile seeping into his voice from behind the mask as he patted the cage. There was another _vwoop_ that came from within the cage, but it grated against Techno’s ears wrong and made him a bit more uncomfortable standing in the abandoned throne room. 

“What would this solution be, then?” Techno asked, voice monotone as he did so. It held no emotion behind it, and his face held no indication of how he felt at the news. Dream straightened up a bit, seemingly happy he got to have his reveal. With a quick flick of his hand, the cloth was snapped off the box and revealed what was underneath. 

Techno felt a jolt of curiosity hit him when he was greeted with the bars to a cage, a lanky hybrid in the cage, slumped over, and blood staining the bottom. It certainly gave an answer to why the voices had been yelling about blood since he had walked into the room, seemingly picking up on what he didn’t. 

What caught his attention was the hybrid slumped over against the bars of the cage, shivering slightly in its sleep as it appeared to be unconscious. Dream knocked the bars of the cage with a Netherite sword that Techno hadn’t noticed him pull out, the loud ringing awakening the hybrid inside. 

It jolted from its sleep, looking around wildly with pinpricked eyes before they settled on Dream, legs scrabbling to push it back to the farthest corner of the cage possible. It huddled its legs up to itself, lanky arms wrapping around its legs in the hopes that becoming smaller would lead it to become unseen. 

“What is this, then?” Phil asked, voice betraying nothing as he looked emotionlessly at the small hybrid shaking in the cage. Dream chuckled a bit, the sound making the hybrid flinch before the man spoke. 

  
“Enderman hybrid. Not sure what the other half is, but it has enough of a Player’s signature to respawn somewhere if it spends long enough there. It’s all messed up with genetics as well, so if you kill it with Looting III enchantments, it’ll drop four or five Ender pearls. I’ve personally been using it for the past year or so, but I’ve come across a villager that sells them for much, much cheaper and I’ve grown tired of its whining. When I heard that you had this... _problem_ , I figured it would be kind of me to lend my help out to you.” 

Techno tore his gaze from the hybrid, who had been staring back at him for a bit with wide, terror-filled eyes that brought him none of the adrenaline of being on the battlefield. He didn’t… Dream was someone dangerous. Techno had known that from the start, he had known the man was a bit insane and he would do things that would be frowned upon by other Kingdoms, but to see him blatantly admitting to killing a hybrid, one that had the genetics of a Player, over and over simply for Ender pearls was… Inhumane, at the very least. 

“How much for it?” Techno asked without hesitation, drawing a breathy laugh from Dream and a terrified croak from the hybrid. He watched unflinchingly as Dream knocked his sword against the bars, harder than before. The hybrid let out another warbly whimper before slumping over to its side in the hopes that it wouldn’t be hurt by the large, enchanted sword. Something in the pit of Techno’s stomach burnt with anger. 

“Don’t touch my merchandise, Dream, you’re not gonna scam me out of a few Ender pearls,” Techno joked, the words sounding alien in his mouth. He sounded like one of the rich ministers from other kingdoms that would come over to bother him and Phil and he despised himself for it. His only saving grace was that he was sure that Phil knew he was trying to bait Dream into letting him take the hybrid home with them. 

“Well, surely you know I can’t let you keep it, right? It’s rare probably the rarest thing I’ve ever found.” Dream argued though Techno could already tell his heart wasn’t behind the words. 

“What would you sell it for, then? I’m sure there are things we have that you don’t have access to at all, Dream, you can’t pull wool over my eyes this time around.” Dream hesitated for just a moment, and Techno took the opportunity to exploit it. 

“Shulkers, maybe? It’s not a secret that you don’t have access to the End.” Dream froze up at the offer, Techno continuing to press forward with crimson eyes that were locked onto his blank mask. 

“Dragon’s breath? The head of a dragon? End crystals? A dragon egg? An Elytra?” Techno pressed, Dream seemingly snapping out of his stupor to draw in a breath before speaking. 

“For… A shulker, three bottles of dragon’s breath, and an Elytra,” Dream bargained. Techno scoffed a bit, disbelieving. 

“Surely you don’t think it’s worth that much. It’s used, you told me you had it for a year.” Dream laughed a bit at that shaking his head. 

“You got me there, Techno, you got me there. One bottle of dragon’s breath and the rest stands?” He asked, holding a hand out to await a handshake to seal the deal. Techno regarded him before his gaze wandered back to the hybrid, who was staring at Phil now. Techno had almost forgotten the man was there, but he was pretty sure that Phil trusted his judgement and would let him do what he needed to to get the hybrid. 

“Yeah, that sounds good to me,” Techno said, taking Dream’s hand and shaking it. Dream nodded as a reply, pulling back after a moment. 

“So, you two can come back in a week or so with what you promised me, and-” Phil interrupted Dream this time, ignoring how the man tensed a bit at the rude interjection. 

“If you have an Enderchest around, I’m sure I can get them for you now and we can leave with the hybrid,” Phil offered, voice cool and level. Techno knew that he was definitely hiding something, though he nodded at the man’s words anyway. Dream looked between the two before nodding. 

“Yeah, back over here,” He gestured to the throne at the back of the room, leading Phil to it as Techno stayed behind with the hybrid. He spared a glance at it, seeing its tail lash violently in the cell, thin with a small tuft at the end. Its pointed ears were swivelled down, and it was still curled up in a protective position. Techno could spot blood on its mouth and lips like it had taken a chunk of something’s leg off, though it seemed like it would crumble in the face of a fly. 

For a moment, it made eye contact with Techno. Its pinpricked eyes dilated, showing a hint of pupils that held intelligence in them. Techno’s red eyes peered at it carefully, holding something close to concern in them that the hybrid seemed to have picked up on, its gaze turning tender before it looked over his shoulder and they returned to the lines they were before, screeching. Techno turned to see Dream opening the door of the cage to grab at the hybrid by the front of its shirt. 

Before either he or Phil could protest, Dream slid a sword in between its ribs, the hybrid crying out in pain and screeching with the echo of Voidspeak in its too-human cry before dissolving into dust, reforming by Dream’s feet as he gathered the four Ender pearls it dropped. His sword was dripping with blood that he merely wiped off on his pant leg before sheathing, ignoring how the Ender hybrid bled while purebred mobs never would. Techno looked at him as Dream exited the cage, cleaning off the delicate drops. The man looked up at Techno, laughing a bit sheepishly. 

“Needed a few before I started paying for them. Enjoy the free Pearls!” He said, gathering the things that Phil had given him and leaving the throne room. The doors were opened again and Techno and Phil were left with a barely-conscious Ender hybrid in a bloodstained cage, shaking violently as tremors made their way up to its spine. 

Techno knew he’d be in for a long trip back home, sharing a glance with Phil before the two got to work transporting their precious cargo. 

* * *

When Ranboo slowly came to, it was to the gentle sensation of being held. He didn’t really register what was going on around him, the haze of respawning clouding his mind the way it had been for the past year. It was rare that he would be lucid when he was awake, only on the rare weekend that Dream would step out of the castle with all the guards. 

  
It wasn’t something new for Ranboo to be exploited for his powers, or anything related to his hybrid abilities. He often had people that would try to use him to fight for them. It was kind of funny since Dream had been one of the people to try and do that at first. Ranboo thought it was ironic, considering he spent about a month trying to fight in a war he wanted nothing to do with only to catch Dream’s eye when he died and his fellow ‘soldiers’ found glossy Ender pearls where his body should have been. 

After that, it had been close to a year of never-ending torment and pain and hurt and dying on repeat. Ranboo was pretty sure it was starting to have an effect on him past just dying, leaving scars on his hands and making his fingertips darken dramatically when they were otherwise white. He was beginning to feel a near-constant buzz in his ribcage, something that was more bothersome than hurting. 

His mind was starting to fall away, though, and it was this that frightened him more than anything else. 

Ranboo prided himself on his mind, his smarts. Where his skills failed him, he could rely on his quick thinking to help him get out of most situations others would be stuck in. He was the one to go to for plans when he used to play in group games of Bed wars, and he was someone to watch out for on solo boards. It was something he tried to carry over when he was invited to Dream’s kingdom only to be thrown into a civil war he knew nothing about. There was almost nothing he could figure out when it came to dealing with the attention he had drawn on the battlefield, and fleeing was pointless when Dream had caught him and treated him like an animal by throwing him in a cage and only providing him with an over-large t-shirt and a pair of shorts that sagged down to his knees. 

He wasn’t built for the cold, and the castle was almost always freezing. Ranboo was happy on the days that Sapnap would come around, learning the guard’s name after the long year he had spent with the group of people considered to be in Dream’s inner circle. He wasn’t sure how the blaze hybrid felt about seeing a fellow hybrid caged, but on the days that he would watch Ranboo, he would slip him more food than the rations he usually got and made the effort to stay close to the cage, aware that he was something of a space heater. 

George was about the opposite, never speaking to him. He only ever stood far from the cage and watched the people who passed by, never at Ranboo. The teen didn’t know if it was out of guilt, or just because he didn’t want to look at something filthy and bloody like him, but he was glad that he didn’t make a conscious effort to hurt him like some other people in his position would happily take the time to do. 

It was easy to fight something that never fought back, after all. Even easier when they dropped something that was in high demand and quite valuable. 

In the more recent months, however, the demand had grown higher, and Ranboo found himself respawning almost seven times a day on a good day, let alone on a day where he was being killed on repeat by the main soldiers in Dream’s repertoire. Sapnap had always looked sorry, as did Bad, but eventually, Sapnap grew indifferent and Bad stopped showing up. The man wasn’t brought up in the circle of three anymore and Dream grew more violent. 

It was something scary when he found out that Dream wanted to torment him rather than simply killing him for the Ender pearls. He had been drowned more times than he could remember and the man would punish him for screaming in front of his friends when he was killed off for his pearls. He didn’t want them to worry, Dream had explained at one point. Ranboo didn’t really remember anymore. 

The hazy state that came with respawning was one that he had been stuck in for the past month now, unable to resurface from the bare instincts of his Ender side where he acted more like a creature than a person. He was pretty sure that it was the constant dehumanization that helped with this, unable to step outside his cage without feeling waves of panic that overwhelmed him to the point of passing out. 

This was the most lucid he had been in a while though, the touch of something that wasn’t metal against him not becoming unbearably hot at the touch. Touch was always something that made him more panicked in his barely conscious state, the teen finding more fright in not being able to identify who was touching him and manhandling him. It was terrifying, and Ranboo would rather die a swift death than put up with that for more than a minute. 

Ranboo shifted in whatever held him, still hazy as he squinted up at whatever was holding him. He knew it wasn’t Dream, that much was for certain. Something had happened, something he barely remembered before he had been killed once again and sent into the darkened void that was his only comfort for a few days. 

What was going on, anyway? He knew that… someone had come to visit, Dream had told him to behave as he was dozing off the night before. He didn’t think he had remembered earlier, though, if the aching pain in his ribs was any indication. Ranboo didn’t know what happened, only barely remembered someone discussing something… Price, maybe? Trying to figure out what to do with him? He remembered that it would have been concerning if he had cared at the time, mind fogged over and reverting to his most basic instincts in an attempt to protect himself.

He blinked, looking up at a sharp jaw and blond hair wearing blue. Ranboo squinted, trying to focus on the man through half-open eyes. He shook his head a bit, wincing in pain as his sore body was jostled around. The man holding him seemed to have noticed, smoothing his hair down with a quiet hush. Ranboo flinched back weakly at the touch, shaking his head as he tried to mumble out a disagreement. 

Ranboo heard something of a laugh before he turned over in the man’s arms, trying to figure out where he was and get used to his body after months of not being able to come out from under the water. His eyes fluttered, unblurring as he heard the tell-tale sound of large doors being opened. Ranboo remembered the same thing happening when he had first been carted around in the month Dream had found him and tried to figure out how to figure out a system on how to exploit Ranboo the most. 

His eyes cleared almost completely when he was taken up a flight of stairs, whining a bit as he felt sore upon the constant movement. The man shushed him again, not petting his hair this time around. Ranboo was just glad that he wasn’t touching his hair. 

Ranboo was put down on a bed carefully, body sinking into soft sheets that he hadn’t felt for nearly an entire year. He had almost wanted to sob at the touch, only crying instead as he was completely silent. He wasn’t supposed to make noise, he wasn’t supposed to cry or be sad or be bad in front of other people, he wasn’t supposed to- he wasn’t- 

“Hey, mate, it’s okay, yeah? Just calm down, take a breather. It’ll be fine, you’re okay now. We’re not gonna kill you, it’s okay,” A gentle voice reassured him, almost sounding like a coo as he said as much. Ranboo shook his head, twisting into his side in an attempt to protect his ribs from another sword. He wished whatever was toying with him would just kill him instead of giving him false hope and making him feel as though they would trust him, he didn’t want to deal with this again. Ranboo didn’t think he could physically take it. 

“J- Just,” He tried to gasp out, choking on a cough that wracked his body and made him feel like he was dying in the process. Ranboo tried to catch his breath, failing as he delved further and further into his panic. The teen shook, his tail whipping out at whatever tried to grab at him, hearing a sharp intake of breath as it made contact with something. He whimpered a bit at the noise, shaking his head and pulling away from it again in an attempt to protect himself. 

“Don’t- _I’m-_ What is- I…” He tried to speak past his panic, only succeeding in becoming more and more out of breath as two voices overlapped in trying to get him to calm down. Eventually, his vision went black once more and Ranboo embraced the black void of comfort with open arms. 

**Author's Note:**

> this was incredjbly impulsive. its also going to be a series, so if ur into that then dont forget to subscribe lol :] tell me what u thought! and suggest some future installments for when i flesh this out more <3 thanks for reading


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